Weeks 3 & 4 - Australian Open (men's)

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

RE: Weeks 3 & 4 - Australian Open (men's)

RJA · Hall of fame

korriban wrote:
RJA wrote:
EddietheEagle wrote:
A couple of observations. I thought Murray, generally did well throughout the tournament. He played for the most part above the level most expected of him. The Berdych match stuck out but where I felt he went wrong was immediately after that match. He should have kept his mouth shut and just said ',Tough match; Tomas played well'. Instead what we got was some rather triumphalist comments and the ensuing media storm around, Mauresmo, feminism, and the antics of his fiancee cannot have helped. The latter's distraction of a T-shirt is confirmation to me that Murray's eye was not wholly on the tennis and I thought it was unprofessional. Sorry if that disappoints. The emotional level needs to remain consistent from match to match. Nadal is a master at this approach. What I saw today, crudely, was a tank.
I agree with most of that
1. If he thinks Mauresmo is the right coach for him then great but if part of his rationale is to prove a point then not so great and if that is the case let the results speak for themselves.
2. Kim was incredibly silly to wear that T-shirt. I understand that she got caught up in the emotion of the occasion but yelling profanities at an opponent of Andy is not something to be proud of. I would have hoped that she would have the good sense to apologise to Tomas for having done so.
3. I wouldn't call it a tank but it was a mental collapse that is simply unacceptable for someone who aims to win the very biggest prizes. It is inconceivable that Federer, Djokovic or Nadal would have fallen at apart in the way that Andy did.
I watched Andy at the O2 being put to the sword by Nishikori. This was before he played even worse against Federer. That was just 2 months ago. I'd prefer to say that for the first time in 16 months, Andy is playing at or very close to his very best, and given what I witnessed in London the improvements are near to miraculous. There's no question he lost the plot from 2-0 in set 3, and that the very predictable "injuries" from Novak which always appear when he's in trouble (and disappear when he receovers) were a distraction......but then Andy could be accused of having phantom injuries when he loses a point or 2.
My cup half full mode has kicked in, since I feared we might never see Andy return to his previous levels from 2012/2013......a mental lapse can be dealt with far more easily than a physical weakness, especially with 2 Grand Slams under ones belt. And as for point 3, Nadal lost 2 and 0 to berdych before actually starting to play......which indicates that even the invincibles can have 2 sets of madness.

Those are all fair points and perhaps the fact that I am so disappointed that Andy lost in the final is in fact a positive because a month ago I didn't think he had a chance of getting there.

However, on your point about Nadal's performance against Berdych I have two counterpoints. Firstly Nadal does not to appear to be close to full fitness and/or decent form. Secondly "the invincibles" do have bad performances but that they do not collapse spectacularly after playing well for a couple of sets and still being very much in the match.

indiana · Tennis legend

Most of what you say, Oakland is very true.

What not to like were the last 2 sets and the awful loss of focus.

But, the tennis in general from Andy is well ahead of what I had expected at this time a

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Hmmm...Nadal definitely within reach (albeit the clay season beckons soon) but Federer is not defending many points before his 1,200 from Wimby; so maybe Andy can be top 2 in time for the USO instead! :)

indiana · Tennis legend

Ah, but what comes with the clay season is Rafa having a lot of points to defend. Yes, at his best he could do better than last year, but Andy could certainly do better than he himself did, at least prior to his slightly unexpected French Open SF.

And Rafa last year reached the final at Miami.

Points defenses :

Rafa :
Indian Wells : 45
Miami : 600
Monte Carlo : 180 ( opportunity for real damage ! )
Madrid : 1000
Rome : 600
French Open : 2000

Andy :
Indian Wells : 90
Miami : 180
Monte Carlo : Didn't play ( not a compulsory, but still ATP Masters point on offer )
Madrid : 90
Rome : 180
French Open : 720

So Andy certainly could be ahead of Rafa after Miami ( if not before ) and / or prior to the French Open ( Rafa's fitness probably important, he could storm through the clay season and gain or drop a lot of points ).

wimdledont · Challenger level

I was unimpressed by Djokovic developing a limp which only seemed to affect him after he had missed a shot.

Andy played very well, until the first stage of the match at which he was ahead, at a set-all, 2-0. Then meltdown.

Similarly, the worst of his play was the missing of the put-away shots, after he had manoeuvred himself into a winning position on court. If you lose the points where you're in a good position, that's very costly. (Because you'll probably also lose the points where you're in a bad position; which leaves you with nothing.)